New Oriental Announces the Launch of a Joint Mobile Application Product "uDA" with Tencent

BEIJING, Dec. 8, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- New Oriental Education and Technology Group Inc. (the "Company" or "New Oriental") EDU, the largest provider of private educational services in China, today announced the official launch of a mobile-based application product "uDA" which is jointly developed with Tencent Holdings Limited ("Tencent", SEHK: 00700), a leading provider of comprehensive Internet services in China. "uDA" is the first application launched by Beijing WeLearn Future Network Technology Co., Ltd., a joint venture established by New Oriental and Tencent in July this year with the aim to develop and market a range of mobile education products.

Leveraging New Oriental's rich resources in terms of content and educational research as well as Tencent's technological expertise and online penetration, "uDA" will help middle school and college students improve their study experience and efficiency through its three-pronged approach, namely Question Scanner, Smart Push Exercises, and Interactive Tutoring.

With the innovative image recognition technology of "uDA", students will be able to scan questions wherever they are and receive answers on their mobile phones as retrieved from New Oriental's nationwide database of study materials. In addition, a question-and-answer service will be provided through the application by New Oriental's strong network of teachers if a scanned question is beyond the database. "uDA" can also push selected exercises to students based on their study progress using behavioral data the Company has been collecting over the years. Furthermore, with students' authorization, "uDA" can initiate a study group on social-networking platforms. This is expected to facilitate students to progress efficiently and to foster an enjoyable learning experience.

"uDA" is now available for download at www.uda100.com and Tencent's Myapp Store and focuses on the College English Test (CET) as well as the English test for Gaokao, China's college entrance exam. The research and development team will continue to optimize the application and targets to roll out services in other subjects in 2015.

Mr. Michael Yu, New Oriental's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, commented, "We are delighted to partner with Tencent on this exciting initiative that brings together China's most respected brand in 'Kindergarten to College' private education and its largest and most successful Internet company. Thanks to our joint efforts with Tencent over the past four months, we have successfully launched the first mobile learning product that will transform how students in China learn English. This will give our students nationwide access to fresh, new online offerings to supplement their offline learning experience. Working together, we believe we can create more best-in-class mobile learning solutions for students in China."

About New Oriental

New Oriental is the largest provider of private educational services in China based on the number of program offerings, total student enrollments and geographic presence. New Oriental offers a wide range of educational programs, services and products consisting primarily of English and other foreign language training, test preparation courses for major admissions and assessment tests in the United States, the PRC and Commonwealth countries, primary and secondary school education, development and distribution of educational content, software and other technology, and online education. New Oriental's ADSs, each of which represents one common share, currently trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ''EDU.''

For more information about New Oriental, please visit http://english.neworiental.org .

About Tencent

Tencent uses technology to enrich the lives of Internet users. Every day, hundreds of millions of people communicate, share experiences, consume information, seek entertainment, and shop online through Tencent's integrated platforms. Tencent's diversified services include QQ, Weixin and WeChat for communications; Qzone for social networking; QQ Game Platform for online games; QQ.com for information; as well as eCommerce services.

Tencent was founded in Shenzhen in 1998 and went public on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2004. Tencent has been one of the 50 constituent stocks of the Hang Seng Index since June 10, 2008, under stock code 00700. Tencent seeks to evolve with the Internet by investing in innovation, providing a hospitable environment for its partners, and staying close to its users. For more information, please visit www.tencent.com/ir .

Contacts

For investor and media inquiries, please contact:

In China:

Ms. May Shen
FTI Consulting
Tel: +86-10-8591-1951
Email:  may.shen@fticonsulting.com

Ms. Sisi Zhao
New Oriental Education and Technology Group Inc.
Tel:  +86-10-6260-5568
Email: zhaosisi@xdf.cn

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SOURCE New Oriental Education and Technology Group Inc.